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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24122149">oh, but the farrow know</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenon912/pseuds/Xenon912'>Xenon912</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Corruption, Death Watch (Star Wars), Galactic Republic, Grooming, Implied/Referenced Genocide, Jedi Culture, Mandalore, Mandalorian Culture, Mando'a, Mind Control, Multi, New Mandalorians, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Politics, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Power Imbalance, Terrorism, Worldbuilding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:40:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,056</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24122149</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenon912/pseuds/Xenon912</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Thank you, Master Jedi,” Lina said, bowing deeply. Joy welled up in her, but she remembered Obi-Wan’s words.</i> Control your emotions. <i>“I will not fail you.”</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>“Fail us, no,” Master Yoda agreed. “Fail yourself, we are yet to see.”</i></p>
<hr/>
<p>It is a time of darkness.</p>
<p>The Dark Side has corrupted the galaxy and cast a blinding veil over the Jedi Order. Once peacekeepers, the Jedi now serve as generals and commanders of the Republic, leading armies of clones against the Separatist scourge. It is the twilight of the Jedi, and their days are numbered.</p>
<p>Lina does not know this. It is the first year of the Clone Wars, and Lina is twelve years old. As a child, she knew of the horrors of Mandalore’s civil wars. Now as a padawan learner, she longs to prove her worth on the battlefield, fighting alongside the clones under her command. She does not know that the fate of the Republic she fights for lies in her hands—for better or worse.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anakin Skywalker &amp; Original Jedi Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Original Jedi Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Pre Viszla &amp; Original Character(s), Pre Viszla/Original Mandalorian Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. tal'din</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>CONCORDIA, 10 RAY’TUURAR 3250 LY, IN THE 711TH YEAR OF NEW MANDALORE.</b>
</p>
<p>It was storming over Concordia and Lina hated storms.</p>
<p>Storms on Concordia were not calming, quiet, or brief. The lightning blasted entire trees to ash, the thunder shaking the very foundations of the Governor’s Palace. The fine craftsmanship of Mandalorian buildings held up against the barrage of fist-sized hail and bullet-like rain, of course. But the fine craftsmanship of little Lina did not do quite as well. Another rumble shook the Palace walls, and Lina darted down the hall to the one room where the storm could not be heard: her uncle’s office, with its insulated walls to protect his secret conferences with Sundari.</p>
<p>The door opened, allowing for a moment the roar of rain against glass to enter. Lina pressed her back against the sturdy wood backing of her uncle’s desk, biting her tongue to keep from whimpering. She couldn’t let her uncle know how scared she was of a little storm.</p>
<p>“<em>L’ika</em>,” her uncle called, his voice gentle, deep. “Where are you, <em>ad’ika</em>?”</p>
<p>Lina put her brave face on and crawled out from under the desk. “Hi, <em>ba’vodu.</em> I was just...sitting under your desk. Because it’s comfortable.”</p>
<p>Her uncle laughed. “It’s okay to be afraid of the storm, Lina.” He knelt down in front of her and smiled. Few had known the pleasure of Pre Viszla’s smile, the genuine one he reserved for his closest friends and family. Lina had grown up with it at arms reach. “I’ll tell you a secret: I get scared of the storms sometimes too.”</p>
<p>“You do?!”</p>
<p>“Yes, <em>ad’ika.</em>” Pre scooped her up, standing with an exaggerated grunt of effort. “When I was young, the Great Clan Wars still raged on Concordia. The traitors to the throne used the storms to cover the sounds of their ships landing. At the time, the Duke had hidden his youngest children with us.”</p>
<p>Lina’s eyes widened. “B-but they didn’t succeed, right?”</p>
<p>“No, <em>ad’ika</em>, they did not. Your grandfather and his men defeated the traitors and kept the young Lady and Lord Kryze safe. But for many years after...I feared every storm that we would be attacked again.”</p>
<p>Lina shuddered. “I’m glad the war is over, Uncle. I don’t want something like that to happen ever again.”</p>
<p>Pre held her closer. “Neither do I, <em>ad’ika. </em>I hope your generation will never know suffering like mine did.”</p><hr/>
<p>
  <b>CONCORDIA, 30 EHN’TUURAR, 3251 LY, IN THE 712TH YEAR OF NEW MANDALORE.</b>
</p>
<p>Ronin gave another loud grumble. “I just don’t get why <em> you </em>get to see Sundari and I don’t.” He sat on her bed, his belt tossed onto the blankets beside him. He hated that belt, Lina knew, hated the texture of the tunic and the way his boots squeezed his calves and especially, most importantly, that belt.</p>
<p>Lina busied herself with folding her cape, unwilling to look her brother in the eye. “I guess you’ll have to ask <em> ba’vodu </em>about that,” she said quietly. “I just hope I’m not in trouble.”</p>
<p>“You are the worst,” Ronin groaned, and she heard the sound of him falling backwards onto her bed. “Going to see the Capital for the first time and you’re worried you’re in trouble with Uncle Pre?”</p>
<p>“Tadey Wren is still in the hospital,” she snapped back. “I almost—”</p>
<p>“Killed him? Hardly. He broke his arm and his Clan made a big fuss out of it.” Ronin rolled over. “You’re always panicking, <span>vod</span>. Relax.” She heard him get off the bed and pad over to her, his socks making little sound on the wooden floors. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Give me that. It’s all crooked.”</p>
<p>Lina handed him the mess of cape and scooted back, giving him room to work. </p>
<p>Ronin had their mother’s traits, dark hair and darker eyes, much more fitting to their bronze skin than Lina’s blonde hair and pale, greyish eyes. That was what Tadey Wren had given her flack for, her strange, ghostly eyes. “You’ve got Viszla eyes, alright,” Tadey had said, mocking. He was three years older than her. “Too bad you’re a coward.”</p>
<p>“I am not!” Lina had shot back. She was a Mandalorian. Being called a coward was unforgivable, the worst insult a Mandalorian could possibly receive. “At least I’m not afraid of the wolves on the Kryze tapestry!”</p>
<p>Tadey had shoved her then, and she’d done the proper thing: she had shoved him back.</p>
<p>And sent him flying out a window.</p>
<p>The glass hadn’t so much broken as exploded, Tadey flying through the center of the decorative diamond. No matter how many adults demanded to know what happened, Lina couldn’t tell them. She had pushed him like her uncle had taught her; hands on the chest, with her whole body. But that was no reason for Tadey to have been catapulted nearly thirty feet. Pre had handed her off to her mother, who had almost rushed her out of the hall where the Clans were meeting to celebrate Armistice. The fifteen year anniversary of the end of the Great Clan Wars, and Lina had just caused a diplomatic incident.</p>
<p>Pre had insisted he wasn’t angry, but with the scowl on his face she wasn’t sure she believed him. The next morning their Clan healer had arrived to examine her and take her blood. “She’s healthy enough to pull the ears off a Gundark,” she’d heard the healer tell Pre. “But we’ll see what Coruscant thinks.”</p>
<p><em> Coruscant. </em>Lina felt sick. Would she be sent away? Even her mother had never been to Coruscant—most Mandalorians hadn’t, and they weren’t exactly welcomed there with open arms. What would she do on Coruscant? Attend an academy with all the pampered children of Senators, she was sure. She’d be miserable there, and far from Uncle Pre and Ronin and her mother.</p>
<p>“Lina! Why are you crying?” Ronin leaned closed to her face, taking her head in his hands with that utmost gentleness he’d had since they were very little.</p>
<p>“I don’t wanna leave,” she sobbed. “I don’t want to be sent away. I didn’t mean it.”</p>
<p>“No one is sending you away, Lina.” Pre’s voice cut through her grief. “We are your family. We will never abandon you.”</p>
<p>Lina looked up at him, instantly ashamed of her tear-stained face. But all Pre did was kneel and wipe her tears away with his thumb, infinite paternal patience in his eyes. “We are <em> all </em>going to Sundari,” he announced. “Ronin, go pack your bags. I’ll help Lina here.”</p>
<p>“R-really?!”</p>
<p>“Yes, really. Off you go.” Pre shooed Ronin off, who practically sprinted out of Lina’s room, returning a few seconds later to grab his belt.</p>
<p>As if nothing had happened, Pre picked up Ronin’s work, neatly folding her cape and putting it in her bag on top of the rest of her clothes. “Avenger willing, you won’t need that,” Pre said, motioning with his head to her cape. “Sundari is climate-controlled, of course, but they tend to be a bit hard-handed with the air conditioning within the Duchal Palace.”</p>
<p>“We get to see the Palace!” Lina murmured to herself, her sadness forgotten momentarily.</p>
<p>“I will show you all the city if you want,” Pre told her. “It is beautiful. A shining testament to our architecture.” He paused, like he had more to say, but left it at that.</p>
<p>“Will we meet the Duchess?” Lina asked.</p>
<p>“Yes. She is excited to meet you.” Pre stood, and he felt suddenly distant, like he’d closed himself off from her. “There is someone else you will meet, someone special. I will not tell you who they are yet.”</p>
<p>“Will I like them?”</p>
<p>Pre paused. “We leave in an hour,” he said instead of answering, and left.</p>
<p>Lina wasn’t sure what she’d expected of Sundari, but a black dome in the middle of a wasteland was not it. It was jarringly undecorated, a blank shell amidst an empty desert.</p>
<p> “They call this Adonai’s Desert,” Ronin explained, pressed against the glass with her. “Adonai Kryze fell here, and the traitors burned his warriors alive. The grass never grew back.”</p>
<p>“These plains were already dying before the Mand’alor was killed,” Pre said. It was the first time he had spoken since they had left Concordia three hours ago. “These sands are a result of millennia of war between our people.”</p>
<p>“Is that why we have given up the Old Ways?” Lina asked.</p>
<p>She sensed Pre’s discomfort again, the same conflict she’d felt when they’d spoken in her room. “We do as our Ruler tells us.”</p>
<p>Their starship skirted the largest docks, which Lina assumed were for the general public, and went around and up to a smaller dock. The pilot put them down gently and extended the ramp. A squadron of guards in silver armor and crested helmets marched toward them. They reminded her of the old paintings that hung in the Governor’s Palace of her Crusader ancestors, their visors matte black and terrifying in their coldness. </p>
<p>Despite herself, Lina grabbed Ronin’s hand and squeezed it tightly for comfort. His palms were sweaty, and he shot her a look that reflected the panic she felt. Pre and their mother stood, stepping almost protectively in front of Ronin and Lina. The guards stopped at the threshold, a safe distance from Pre.</p>
<p>“Welcome to Sundari, Governor Viszla, Lady Viszla,” their captain said, identified by a bar on his chestplate. “We will escort you to the Palace.”</p>
<p>Lina’s mother frowned. “A full escort? Is everything alright?”</p>
<p>Pre sighed heavily. “I suppose we’ll find out when we get there, Eris.”</p>
<p>The city of Sundari was nothing like its protective dome. There were buildings jutting out from every side of the dome, even reaching down from the ceiling, and airspeeders weaved around them. To Lina they looked like bees swarming around a meadow of flowers.</p>
<p>The speeder they were on flew through the center of the city, between the commercial airlanes. “Keep your arms <em> inside </em>the speeder, Lina,” Eris scolded mildly, reaching over Lina to take her wrist and position her arm back inside.</p>
<p>“This place is amazing!” Lina said, looking up at her with a big smile.</p>
<p>Eris smiled back. “It is, isn’t it? The capital always ought to be the jewel of the system.”</p>
<p>“Four million people live here,” Ronin told them, showing Lina his datapad.</p>
<p>“That’s half of Concordia!”</p>
<p>“It is a quarter of Mandalore’s population,” Pre informed them. “Living within these domes is expensive, and those who cannot afford to remain on Mandalore leave for other planets.”</p>
<p>Lina opened her mouth to ask her how he knew that, but the airspeeder started lowering onto the platform. “On your <em> best behavior</em>, both of you,” Eris said, and fixed Ronin’s collar. “You’re going to meet the Duchess.”</p>
<p>As soon as the speeder had landed on the platform, Pre vaulted off, landing and immediately dropping into a bow. “Duchess Satine. Thank you for welcoming my family here.”</p>
<p>The Duchess Satine was tall and very beautiful, her blonde hair piled atop her head in a sort of crown braided with flowers.  Her pale eyes had a hardness to them that was impossible to miss—a sharp, Mandalorian conviction.</p>
<p>Lina decided she liked the Duchess very much. She studied her closely as Pre lifted her up out of the speeder and set her onto the ground. An almost-invisible scar traced the Duchess’s hairline. She heard an unhappy Male voice, like a thought. <em> You should thank me. I saved your life! </em> Then, a young woman’s response. <em> You dropped me! </em></p>
<p>Pre flicked the back of her neck. “Lina,” he muttered. “Bow.”</p>
<p>Lina jolted back and immediately bowed, going bright red. “Sorry!”</p>
<p>The Duchess laughed, a musical sound. “Not to worry, <em> adiik. </em>Sundari can be a very captivating city.” She heard her footsteps approach, and felt it safe to straighten out. She seemed taller up close. “You must be Lina,” she said. “And this is your brother, Ronin. Which one of you is older?”</p>
<p>“We’re twins,” Ronin said.</p>
<p>“I’m older,” Lina said at the same time. Ronin gave her a dirty look.</p>
<p>The Duchess motioned them towards the entrance to the Palace. “Let’s continue inside,” she said. “I was told the two of you enjoy Uj cake?”</p>
<p>Ronin hopped from excitement. “I LOVE UJ CAKE!”</p><hr/>
<p>The room the Duchess led them to was covered wall-to-wall in what looked like tapestries. “What are these?” Lina asked her mother.</p>
<p>“These are the tapestries of Clan Kryze,” Eris explained. “They are hundreds of years old. In old times, long before the Wars, a married couple would weave a tapestry with which to immortalize their greatest achievements for their children to remember. Only some clans had this tradition, like Clan Kryze. When the fighting worsened, however, Mandalorians no longer had time to weave these tapestries for their children. By that time...there were more orphans than children with parents.”</p>
<p>Lina wrapped her arms around Eris’s leg. “I’m glad it’s not that way anymore.”</p>
<p>“As am I, young one.” The Duchess’s voice made her jump. She stood beside them, looking up at the tapestries. She pointed to one figure in brilliant blue armor. He held his helmet under one arm and was looking off into the distance, his bright-white hair swaying in an artistic wind. There was a hole blasted in his helmet, right at the bottom of the visor. “That is my great-grandfather, Cin Kryze. He met my great-grandmother Amata at this battle. This was the scene they chose to immortalize as a testament to their love.”</p>
<p>An unfamiliar voice cut through the room, his Core accent unmistakable. “Love forged from violence. How...Mandalorian.”</p>
<p>The Duchess scowled immediately and Lina sensed they knew each other. “I thought I told you to wait outside.” She turned to the entrance, and Lina leaned around her to see who it was.</p>
<p>The man was...Stars, he was a <em> Jedi. </em> He stood regal as a painting, his robes stilling around him, the sleeves of his brown cloak hiding his hands. His eyes were a clear clue, like a Spring sky, and there was already a small smile playing at his lips. A young teenager, maybe fourteen, stood behind him, his hair short save for a braid behind his right ear. A Jedi apprentice. He did not look quite as approachable as his master.</p>
<p>The master Jedi bowed. “Forgive me, Duchess. Your guards were looking at me funny.”</p>
<p>“You can’t see their faces.”</p>
<p>The apprentice looked to the heavens for some sort of sign. His master straightened and beamed. He was handsome in a foreign way, but he carried himself like a soldier, which Lina could admire. “Obi-Wan Kenobi at your service, Governor Viszla.”</p>
<p>Pre inclined his head politely, moving to shake Obi-Wan’s hand, but a storm brewed in his eyes. He looked at her, and she felt her heart leap into her throat. “Come, Lina.”</p>
<p>Her legs moved without her telling them to, and she stopped at Pre’s side. He put a hand on her shoulder, and it brought her no comfort. </p>
<p>“This is the girl?” Obi-Wan studied her for a moment, and then smiled reassuringly. “Do not worry, young one. You are safe.” She still felt scared, but the apprehension in Pre and the rest of her family members abated. “Lina, yes?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” she said softly, trying to breathe. “It is an honor, Master Jedi.”</p>
<p>“Let’s take a walk, Lina,” Obi-Wan said, extending a hand to her. She took it and felt her anxiety slip away suddenly, replaced by a calming warmth. “We won’t be long. Save us some Uj cake.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. ba'jurir</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>SUNDARI, 30 EHN’TUURAR, 3251 LY, IN THE 712TH YEAR OF NEW MANDALORE.</b>
</p>
<p>The halls of the Duchal Palace of Sundari were cavernously large, and yet Lina felt as if they were falling in around her. Obi-Wan walked as if he knew the place by heart, shortening his steps so Lina could keep up. His apprentice followed, a silent and gloomy cloud. “You’re allowed to speak, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said good-naturedly. He turned and led them through a pair of doors into a garden centered around a fountain, shaped, as many things on Mandalore were, like the Iron Heart. Dark bushes lined the small stone plaza, bristling with unopened flower buds.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t want to scare her off,” the apprentice, Anakin, replied. He had the voice of a man, even if he still looked like a boy.</p>
<p>“I’m Mandalorian,” Lina said with a scowl. “I’m not scared of anything.”</p>
<p>Anakin looked at his master, who was chuckling heartily. “You were right. They are all like this.”</p>
<p>“Like what?” Lina snapped.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan smiled at her. “Strong and determined, and very brave.”</p>
<p>“That’s not what you—”</p>
<p>“<em>Anakin.</em>”</p>
<p>Anakin closed his mouth.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan knelt down not on the rim of the fountain but in front of it, placing his hands on his knees. “Kneel in front of me, Lina, and copy my pose,” he instructed, closing his eyes. “You too, Anakin.”</p>
<p>The two of them knelt before him. The stone of the garden path was cold and seeped through Lina’s trousers. “Close your eyes,” Obi-Wan continued. “Breathe with me. In...out. In...and out. Focus not on yourself, but on what is around you.”</p>
<p>Lina closed her eyes and breathed in time with him, but the longer she sat there, the more she was hyper aware of everything about herself—the way her shoulder seams itched, the pressure of her belt around her waist, the cold breeze on her face. “Look outside yourself, Lina,” Obi-Wan reminded her. “Do not make your body a cage.”</p>
<p><em>What is the point of this?</em> Lina wondered.</p>
<p>“Focus,” Anakin said. “Imagine you are reaching out to the world with your mind.”</p>
<p>Lina closed her eyes again. She imagined herself in a grassy plain, green as far as she could see in every direction. She could almost feel it, the warm Spring breeze, the smell of the grass, the dark soil beneath her feet. She sat down in the grass and reached out, lowering her hands so the blades of grass just brushed against her palms. It tickled; she could <em>feel</em> the tickle. She pulled her hands back, and the grass she had touched turned yellow and wilted. <em>No!</em> Lina reached out to touch the grass again, but her arms didn’t move. Another plant sprouted from the empty path of soil, growing and sprouting until it revealed an alstroemeria, blue as the ones in Duchess Satine’s hair. All around her the grass wilted and regrew as flowers, and she watched, entranced. Flowers grew for only a brief time on cold, stormy Concordia, but Lina loved them, kept a row of pots on her windowsill for when it was Springtime again. Now she was surrounded by them, flowers of every color and size.</p>
<p>Far away she heard a voice. “Master, look!” Anakin whispered.</p>
<p>For a long moment Obi-Wan did not reply. “The Living Force is strong with her,” he said eventually. He sounded at a loss.</p>
<p>Lina opened her eyes. “What’s going on?” she started, but choked on the words. Every bush in the garden had sprouted flowers, their petals floating slowly to the ground. She was surrounded by flowers in full bloom. “Did I…” Lina tried, though she knew the answer.</p>
<p>“Yes, child,” Obi-Wan said. “That was all you.” He laughed, a little breathless.</p>
<p>“What does it mean?” Lina asked.</p>
<p>“It means that you are strong with the Force,” Obi-Wan said, rising. Lina stood with him. “Much stronger than I ever anticipated. Young one...it is imperative that you return to Coruscant with us.”</p>
<p>“What?!”</p>
<p>“You have to come back to the Jedi Temple,” Anakin said, standing beside his Master. “We—the Order—will train you there. Teach you how to use the Force.”</p>
<p>“But...I don’t want to,” Lina said, taking a step back. Obi-Wan grabbed Anakin by the sleeve of his robe, stopping him. “I like it here.”</p>
<p>“I understand, Lina,” Obi-Wan said carefully. “But it is not safe for you to go back to Concordia. Without proper training, you could hurt yourself or others.”</p>
<p>“Again,” Lina added for him. Obi-Wan furrowed his brows and nodded.</p>
<p>“Or some bounty hunter will come along and sell you to a Hutt,” Anakin said.</p>
<p>“...Yes, that too,” Obi-Wan agreed reluctantly.</p>
<p>Lina hesitated. “I don’t want to leave my family,” she said, but she could feel her resolve breaking. If going to Coruscant would keep her family safe, would she really say no? The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Ronin like she’d hurt Tadey. The mere idea haunted her.</p>
<p>Anakin knelt down in front of her, putting himself at her eye-level. “Let's make a deal,” he said. “You come with us and stay for one year. If after one year you still hate it, I’ll take you back to Concordia myself.”</p>
<p>“Anakin, that would require approval of the council,” Obi-Wan began.</p>
<p>Anakin ignored him and held out his hand. “What about it, Lina? Do we have a deal?”</p>
<p>She shook his hand firmly. “One year to the day,” she said. “No more, no less.”</p>
<p>“To the day,” he agreed. “D’you want a blurrg-back ride?”</p>
<p>“Yes please.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <b>SUNDARI, MEMORIAL DAY, 3251 LY, IN THE 712TH YEAR OF NEW MANDALORE.</b>
</p>
<p>There was no sunrise in Sundari. It made sense, logically speaking, but it wasn’t until Lina rose at 0600 and opened her curtains to midday light that she really thought about it.</p>
<p>It was unnatural. This whole city was, with its apartments jutting down from the ceiling and it’s perfectly square bushes and its sea of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Kalevalans. She had watched the Armistice Day celebrations from the balconies of the Duchal Palace the day before, Obi-Wan and Anakin on her left, her mother and brother on her right. The parade had seemed so neat, prim and perfect with its banners of United Mandalore and synchronized chanting in praise of the Duchess, that Lina had felt sick. This was nothing like the celebrations on Concordia, a throng of people remembering the end of war with drinking and dancing and singing. Today, on Memorial Day, Sundari was more boisterous; at least the dead were remembered in the same way.</p>
<p>There was a knock on her door. “Lina? Are you up? Master Kenobi is here to see you,” Eris said.</p>
<p>“I’m up,” Lina called. Her door slid open.</p>
<p>“Good morning, young one,” Obi-Wan said warmly. He was as cool and collected as he’d been yesterday, sitting with her while Anakin and Eris fetched tea to calm her stomach. “Are you ready? The trip back to Coruscant is a long one, and we ought to leave sooner rather than later.”</p>
<p>Lina nodded. Following Obi-Wan’s instructions, she brought only herself. All of her clothing, black-and-gold and decorated with the Clan Vyr hound, would stay behind. The Jedi Temple would provide her all the clothing she would need for the rest of her life. “I just have to say goodbye.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan inclined his head, the picture of good manners. “I’ll wait outside.”</p>
<p>She had noticed, after yesterday, that Obi-Wan and his padawan Anakin left a gaping hole in her senses when they left a room, but it was all more present now that the palace was so quiet. Lina faced her mother, and Ronin, who seemed to be hiding behind their mother’s leg.</p>
<p>Eris knelt and opened her arms to Lina, and Lina ran at her, burying her face in the soft fabric of her mother’s tunic. “I’ll write,” Lina promised. “As often as I can.”</p>
<p>Eris ran a hand through Lina’s hair. “<em>Adiik</em>,” she said. “Do not allow us to hinder you in your path. You are made for great things.” She took Lina’s face in her hands. “And you will <em>always</em> be a Mandalorian.”</p>
<p>Eris retreated, and Ronin took her place, almost unsure of his movements. He took her hands in his. His hands were a shade lighter, more from being inside too much than anything else. They were soft and knowing. “<em>Ni kar’tayli gar</em>,” he said. “<em>Ni ven’pare gar, vod. Ratiin</em>.” I love you. I will wait for you, sister. Always.</p>
<p>Lina’s throat closed up, and she could do nothing more than pull Ronin’s hands to her chest and hold them there. “<em>Ni kar’tayli gare</em>,” she choked out after a moment. She let go, and Ronin’s hands dropped uselessly to his sides. “Goodbye.”</p>
<p>She didn’t wait for her uncle. She could not bear to see the grief on his face again.</p>
<p>When she stepped into the Palace hallway to reunite with Obi-Wan, she found Anakin was also there waiting for her. He smiled at her, which unfurled a bit of the knot in her chest. “Ready to go?”</p>
<p>“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.</p>
<p>“That’s the spirit,” Anakin said, giving her a wink.</p>
<p>“Indeed,” Obi-Wan agreed, starting off and making Anakin and Lina almost jog to keep up with him. “Keep an open mind, Lina. I believe you will find the Temple quite to your liking.”</p>
<p>“I hope so, Master,” Lina said. Part of her was drawn to it, this mysterious sanctuary in the center of Coruscant, filled to the brim with creatures just like her, a city-within-a-city populated by robed Jedi Knights and Padawans.</p>
<p>“I should warn you, Lina,” Obi-Wan said as they stepped into the guarded elevator. “If you pass the examinations and the Council chooses to accept you into the Order, you will find yourself at a vast disadvantage to the other Initiates your age. Most of the younglings you will become acquainted with have been in the Temple since they were two years at most.”</p>
<p>This piqued her attention. “Are younglings born <em>in</em> the Temple, Master Obi-Wan?” Lina asked.</p>
<p>“It is exceedingly rare, but yes,” the Jedi Master replied. “It is not possible to test an unborn child for midichlorians, but in the case a female Jedi becomes pregnant, she may choose to give birth in the Temple. In that case, of course, the child would be tested.”</p>
<p>“I thought Jedi couldn’t have families.”</p>
<p>“They can’t. It is against the Jedi Code.” The elevator doors opened, and the three of them stepped into Sundari’s artificial sunlight. A speeder waited to take them to the docks. “A youngling born to a Jedi will never know the identity of their parents.”</p>
<p>“What happens when a Jedi breaks the Code?” she asked, climbing into the speeder.</p>
<p>Anakin looked to his Master in alarm, and Lina bit her tongue, realizing she had overstepped. But Obi-Wan met her gaze levelly, settling in across from her. “It depends on the severity of their violation. They may be expelled, or simply suspended, their rank privileges revoked until the Council is certain it will not happen again.”</p>
<p>Lina mulled his answers over as they sped off. Most of the <em>adiike</em> she would be studying with functionally had no families. The only thing that connected them to anyone outside the Temple was their names. Lina was a Mandalorian; she knew the power of a name, the reverential way with which Concordians whispered <em>Viszla</em>. But a name could not compare to the bond she and Ronin had. She sensed him every minute of every day. She sensed him now, meters above her, watching her speeder disappear into the throng.</p>
<p>The small frigate that awaited them at the Royal docks was undeniably Core, with it’s smooth lines and bleached-white features. A sunburst-and-lightsaber symbol adorned its hull—the signet of the Jedi Order. Apprehension mounted in Lina’s gut, which she stuffed away into some secret compartment for impolite emotions. Such was the way of a New Mandalorian noble, and Lina was well familiar with it. She greeted the Republic pilots kindly, a Corellian woman and a Nubian man in Republican uniform. Obi-Wan seemed familiar with them, but she sensed nothing between them and Anakin.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan joined their pilots in the cockpit while Anakin and Lina remained in the seating area. “You should buckle up,” Anakin said, clipping his own seatbelt. “The jump is real bumpy here for some reason. You don’t want to fly out of your seat.”</p>
<p>At Lina’s look of panic, he retracted his words. “We’ll be fine! I-it’s nothing out of the ordinary of anything, just a little turbulence…” His gaze softened. “Listen, I…I know it can be tough to leave your family behind. I joined the Order when I was nine and left my mother behind on Tatooine. She’s still enslaved there.”</p>
<p>“You were a <em>slave</em>?!”</p>
<p>Anakin nodded. “Obi-Wan’s master Qui-Gon Jinn found me by chance—well, by the will of the Force. He bought my freedom, but my mother was left behind.” He looked down at his hands. “Jedi aren’t supposed to have attachments, but…I can’t help but worry for her safety.” He snorted. “It’s much easier to not worry for your family when they’re not <em>slaves</em>.”</p>
<p>“Or they don’t know their family in the first place,” Lina added. “That’s…probably why they take us as babies.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well.” He shrugged and crossed his hands. “Us Outer Rim kids get overlooked. Forgotten.”</p>
<p>Lina could sense his resentment, bubbling in him like overheated tea water. “I sense you’re not very happy to be on this mission,” she said.</p>
<p>He glanced at her, raising his eyebrows. “You’re picking up on Obi-Wan’s form of speech already.”</p>
<p>Lina blushed. “I’ve always talked like this,” she said, almost defensively. “Everyone says I act too old for my age.”</p>
<p>“There’s nothing wrong with being mature, Lina,” Anakin said. “If anyone gives you flak for it, fuck ‘em.” He went white. “I mean—”</p>
<p>Lina laughed at him, and after a second of panic Anakin laughed too, his blue eyes shining. “Please don’t repeat that,” he begged around his laughter. “Obi-Wan will kill me!”</p>
<p>Lina drew herself all the way up, puffing her chest out in an imitation of Coruscanti nobles. “I would never, lest such vulgar language disgrace the delicate ears of the Senators!”</p>
<p>Anakin snorted. “‘Delicate ears?’ The only delicate thing about the Senators is their taste in food.”</p>
<p>“We don’t have delicate people on Concordia,” Lina said flatly. “The word is an insult in our language.”</p>
<p>Anakin nodded, apparently in full agreement with the <em>Mando’ade’s</em> verdict on delicacy. “Not something to be telling to the female Jedi, either. They bite.”</p>
<p>“Are they Togruta?”</p>
<p>“Some of them.”</p>
<p>Lina frowned. “I’ll be careful, then. I’m fond of my fingers.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A couple translation notes:<br/>There is no exact equivalent for "love" in Mando'a, but we do have <i>kar'taylir darasuum</i>—to hold in the heart eternally. This is a romantic term, so I dropped the <i>darasuum</i> to make it more platonic. A literal translation of <i>ni kar'tayli gar</i> would be "I know you in my heart," which I think is fitting for this pair of star-crossed siblings.<br/>Secondly, the Mando'ade's rejection of delicacy is even reflected in their use of the word. <i>Laandur</i> is more than often used as an insult, and the only time you would want to call a Mandalorian woman that is if you have a deathwish!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All Mando'a is grammatically accurate and translated by yours truly, with assistance from the members of the Oyu'baat discord server. Below are the translations. Sentences will have hover translations, as well as translations in the end notes for those on mobile!<br/><i>Tal'din</i> - bloodline<br/><i>L'ika</i> - a nickname taken from Lina's name and the diminutive suffix <i>'ika.</i><br/><i>Ad'ika</i> - [one's own] child, used here like one would use "little one."<br/><i>Ba'vodu</i> - uncle <br/><i>Adiik</i> - a child between the ages of 3 and 13, used more like the Jedi use the term "youngling."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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